Broken
by Iceache
Summary: Brennan tries desperately to work against her fears of losing Booth now that she is aware of his relationship with Cam, their latest case makes her face her fears head on as she is forced to realise that there are worse ways to lose someone you love.
1. The Start of a Slow Burn

The fire glow warms the blackness around him, shadows dance amongst the trees like spirits as embers float upwards into the darkness of the night. He stares into the flames, his gaze stone cold against the heat beside him. He runs the edge of his blade against the steel swiftly. Stroke one, the blade glints as a newly revealed slither of metal basks in the fiery glow. Stroke two, his excitement builds, the arousal becoming sickening as he anticipates his long awaited pleasure. Stroke three, his prey cries out in despair as it realizes the end of days that are about to begin. The wind howls through the trees and almost as though it is aiding his cause, his passion it drowns the final screams of the tortured creature.  
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She stands up in the hollowed earth and wipes the back of a mud smeared hand across her forehead, red mud stains her fair features and she blows a thin strand of hair from her face. Reaching up to the edge of the pit she grabs a bottle of water, gasping from it she allows some of the liquid to travel down her chin and onto her throat. Staring down at the ground beneath her feet she frowns as a stray beam of sunlight teases a hidden object into view.

"Bones?" A shadow stretches into her pit and she holds up a gloved hand as she reaches down to retrieve the trinket. "What you got?" Booth peers over her shoulder from the upper edges of the pit as he tries to work out what has gripped her fascination.

"I don't know yet. It looks like a necklace….. It is a necklace." She bags it and stands to face him holding the bag up for him to retrieve. He takes it and grimaces at the new evidence in front of him as she hauls herself up from the grave below. He reaches down and takes her forearm gently to prevent her from falling back. She smiles gratefully.

"So what about the body, what did you find?" She smirks discreetly as she pulls the latex gloves from her fingers. "You mean apart from noticing how you conveniently weren't around to help catalogue any evidence or search for any clues"

"Come on, I know how much you love to get your hands dirty…. Besides, this one was a bit…you know..icky"

"Icky? Zach took the bones back to the lab…. I'll have to have a closer look, but I'd say she was flayed while she was still alive. At this time I believe that the killer was probably a hunter of some kind… The cuts were clean, those that had touched the bone only touched once… you would expect the cuts to be hesitant, maybe have a couple of knife strokes showing for each attempt….this person, they knew what they were doing. But, like I said, that's only what I think at this time. It could all change"

Booth nods solemnly, he looks up at the darkening clouds and puts a hand on the small of her back. "It's gonna start getting dark, we should get out of here." He smirks as he finally notices the smear of mud on her forehead and stopping her he wipes the edge of his sleeve over her face to rid her of the dirt. She moves closer to him instinctively and unconsciously breathes in the scent of his cologne when he looks down at her she feels like a deer, caught in the range of a rifle, knowing that danger is lurking. He senses a change in her mood but doesn't press her for an explanation. "You had mud on your face." She nods mutely and pushes past him. He shakes his head gently and follows her into the trees.

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Angela leans over Brennan's shoulder as she busies herself with assembling the bones on the examination table. Brennan glances up as Booth swipes his card through the security reader and jogs up the steps to join them on the platform. He flashes a flirtatious grin at Angela and stops with hands on his hips in front of the female squints. "What we got"

"Exactly the same as we had when you weren't helping today." Brennan returns her focus to the task at hand and Booth holds up his hands in mock defeat and pulls a face.

Angela smiles and walks around the examination table to stop beside him. She touches his arm and shakes her head. "Don't worry sweetie, she's been like this since she got back to the lab.

"Well that's reassuring."

Brennan sighs and looks up from the bones, she leans across the table bracing herself against the sides. "I am in the room you know. Booth if you have nothing constructive to add to the investigation at this time, maybe you could go chase up some other leads… or go see Cam or something." Her eyes are averted back to the table and the last sentence is somewhat mumbled, but that does not reduce the effect on Booth or the look of hurt that crosses his features, unseen by the scientist but not missed by the artist.

He looks to Angela quickly and nods "Right…I should go chase some leads or... something…"

Angela tries to offer him a reassuring smile as he turns and exits the lab platform. Angela watches him leave and then turns to her friend."What the hell was that all about"

"What was what about"

"Go chase some leads or see Cam"

Brennan looks up from the table and shrugs. "He wasn't being constructive, and I'm not in the mood for any long drawn out banter"

"Sweetie, there are some things you don't do… and using his girlfriend against him is one of them….. What is going on between you two? Things have been…. I don't know, so strained between you both lately"

"Everything is fine. I just want to get on with my work"

Zack and Jack swipe through the security entrance unnoticed by both women. Angela walks around the table to face her friend.

"The hell it is. You need to resolve these tension issues with Booth…. You either need to tell him how you feel or get over with the fact that he's with Cam. What you just did was completely out of line, you need to stop and think before you say these things to him"

Both men stop dead in their tracks as they watch the two women sizing each other up. Brennan folds her arms across her chest and juts her chin out defiantly.

"Angela, stop projecting your fears and apprehensions about dating Jack onto me and Booth. If you have issues with dating a work colleague maybe you should speak to him about it instead of fixating on myself and my relationships all the time…. "

Angela looks stunned, grabbing the skull from the table she turns on her heel to march off of the platform. The sight of both men stop her dead in her tracks, her eyes meet Jack's and she lowers them to the ground before taking her leave. Jack follows slowly and Zack turns back to meet Brennan's stare as she challenges him to make a sound. He relents and silently joins her at the table. Her eyes lift once more to watch her friend storm towards the offices before she gets back to concentrating on the task at hand.

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Oh no…. what's up with Brennan?


	2. Strained

She kicks her apartment door closed behind her as she juggles a bag of groceries and an armful of files to the kitchen. Reaching the counter she allows the bags and folders to flop onto the counter and braces herself against it for a few seconds while she regains her composure.

Trudging through to the bedroom and kicking off her boots she discards her scarf and coat onto the bed. Frozen in her place she stares unseeingly out of the window, her eyes focusing somewhere past the buildings and windows outside. After a few moments the shrill ringing of her cellphone shakes her from her stagnant stare. She sighs inwardly and moves back to the kitchen to pick the cell from under her folders, she sees from the caller ID that Booth is trying to reach her and contemplates whether to answer or not. Answering would mean either having to apologise or explain her earlier mood, she's not sure that she's ready to do either yet. Taking a deep breath she releases the call deciding that if it's important he'll leave a voice message and then she'll find out why he was calling.

Shelving the mobile, she starts to unpack the groceries and tries not to think about having to face both Angela and Booth in the morning.

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Booth snaps his phone closed in annoyance and closes his eyes taking deep breaths to calm his frustration. Cam watches silently from the sofa and closes her book over. When Booth opens his eyes again he is met by her smirk which only adds to his ire.

"Maybe she doesn't have her phone with her."

"Camille, please do not start with me. She has her phone, probably nestled right next to her attitude problem."

"Don't call me Camille. You left her a message, give her an hour to get back to you." Cam turns her attention back to the book and returns to her page. Booth clenches his jaw and shrugs on his jacket. She watches him over the top of her page and bites her lip as she notices the tension that has overcome his usually laid back demeanor.

"I don't have an hour, I have a new set of bones and no squint." He turns to exit the room and then turns back, his brow raised and anger seeping from his pores. "What the hell is wrong with her lately? Sometimes I think that we're really getting somewhere…. That she's actually becoming human and then… then she goes and does something like this?" His hands dramatically emphasise each word before coming to rest atop his head. Cam pushes herself up from the sofa and walks over to him, she stops when her chest meets his and she is able to look him directly in the eyes.

"Seeley, sometimes I think you let her get to you too much. Call Zack, tell him that you can't get a hold of Dr Brennan, he's more than capable of doing the job. It'll take a couple of hours to get the bones back to the lab, then you can come back here… we'll relax with a bottle of wine, an old movie and some takeout. I'll take your mind off of everything for a while." She offers him a seductive grin which he can't help but return. Pressing her lips to his quickly she pushes him towards the door.

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Booth lays a hand on Zack's shoulder and gives him an appreciative smile. Zack looks from his shoulder to Booth in awe of the unexpected display of friendship.

"Thanks for your work Zack… It's appreciated."

"Do you think Dr Brennan will be upset that she didn't get here in time to gather the bones?"

Booth withdraws his hand and furrows his brow. "What does Dr Brennan not get upset about these days?" Booth looks up towards the trooper vehicles above the short ravine that they are now standing in. He frowns when he spots the silhouette of a familiar figure having an animated argument with one of the state troopers. Zack thankfully is back to business and is unearthing another section of the remains under the spot lit area that has been cordoned off for him. Shoving his hands into his pockets Booth starts to make his way up towards the unlucky officer on the receiving end of Brennan's sharp tongue. To his dismay she spots him before he has reached the top of the ravine and the abused trooper is looking to him for a respite from this strangely passionate woman. Booth holds up his hands to signal that she be allowed past the crime scene tape. Lugging her forensic case with her she starts to clamber down towards Booth.

"Thank you. He told me that you already had a forensic anthropologist down here… I was trying to explain that it was impossible…. He wouldn't listen…"

"Hello to you too Bones."

She purposefully avoids his eyes as she looks down to the area below. "Who's that? They're not touching the bones are they?"

Booth lets out a breath quickly to calm his nerves and prepares to clue her in. "It's Zack. I couldn't get a hold of you, he was available. Cam said it'd be fine…. The bones are mostly bagged and ready to go."

Surprisingly her anger didn't return, instead she looked as though she was desperately fighting an internal war "I'll bet she did."

Booth looks at the ground nervously. Brennan's eyes have remained fixated on her student for the past few moments of silence. Booth's eyes shoot up when he senses her turn on her heel and start to clamber back up the ravine. "Where you going Bones?"

"Home."

"You're not going to help?"

"No, you've apparently got it all under control Booth."

He clenches his fists angrily at his side and watches her disappear into the lights above. "Damnit Bones."

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She sits in her apartment staring without focus on the words of her open book. An abandoned glass of wine rests on the table in front of her, a slow jazz melody playing in the background, unheard. She's angry, with him, with Zack, Cam… mainly with herself. She'd let her personal feelings get in the way of her work today, something she had always vowed not to allow. Her work is her main driving force, a reason to get up every morning… a way to make a difference in a world where she would otherwise be unnoticed. She doesn't want to be invisible, not to the world, not to her friends…. But mainly not to him. She knows that she's not a conventional woman, she knows that she finds it hard to connect in a society dependent on a social hierarchy, but in her own way she feels more connected to the man who offers her an unwavering fierce loyalty than anyone she's ever known.

The first tear slips from her eyes unnoticed, the second is unable to slip as quietly as her body is wracked with the overwhelming urge to cleanse the anguish and confusion from her soul. Quietly, she allows her heart to take over from her rational mind and the emotions flow in a river of tears.

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Booth lies on his bed, still fully dressed, still completely bathed in his anger toward his partner. He'd refused Cam's pleas to allow her to relieve his tension, he'd stood his ground and brushed her off; not caring about having to deal with her fury later. His mind concentrates on one woman and one alone. He doesn't understand why she's pushing him away, he's certain that it has something to do with her being hurt by his decision to keep their relationship from her. Looking back he realizes just how wrong that decision had been, if he could go back in time and change it he would. It kills him knowing that he's hurt her, yet at the same time it angers him that she is holding this above his head. It's his life after all. He glances at the cell phone lying on his bedside cabinet and contemplates calling her, the thought quickly disappears when he remembers that he hasn't done anything wrong in this. She should be the one to reach out to him, he should be the one to wait until she's ready.

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Jack watches as Brennan approaches him on the platform, he lowers his face back to the microscope and braces himself against the counter.

"So Dr Brennan, do you come in peace?"

"I'm assuming that was a joke Dr Hodgins…."

Her raised eyebrow quickly puts him back in his place and he nods in acquiescence. He gestures for her to have a look through the microscope and she obliges.

"What am I looking at?"

"Steel deposits. I found them in the bone from the original victim and from the remains that Zack brought back here last night…." She stands up to look at him, hands on hips in her usual defensive posture. "At first I thought that it could have been debris, but the particles are too fine. Both remains had the exact same particles. I'm identifying the steel, then I can try to narrow down what instruments are made from it. For them to be embedded so deep in the bone, I'd have to say that they came from the weapon used to skin the victims."

She nods and looks around the platform. "Where's Zack?"

Jack looks nervously back to his microscope. "I think that Dr Saroyan wanted his help with something." He looks up in time to see Brennan close her eyes briefly and then open again to nod at him.

"Thanks Jack."

She starts to turn on her heel to exit the platform. "She was really cut up you know…. She thinks the world of you, always the first one to fight your corner… You should talk to her."

She doesn't turn to acknowledge his words, her posture doesn't defy her emotions and almost as though she hasn't heard a word that he's said she leaves.

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Booth leans against the door jamb of her office and watches her silently working at her desk. She doesn't turn to look at him, her attention remains focused on her task.

"How can I help you Booth?"

"Come on Bones. I don't wanna fight with you, can't we just try and get things back to normal?"

"What's not normal about me asking how I can help?"

Booth enters the room closing the office door behind him. Her eyes falter from the screen as he takes a seat across from her. "Bones, this isn't working….. we need to clear the air and just get all of our issues out on the table so that we can deal with them and move past this."

"I don't have any issues Booth."

"Fine." The set of his jaw shows her that he is upset with her inability to talk to him, perhaps even her lack of enthusiasm to fix their current poor communication problem, but she knows she's not ready to try and sort through feelings with him that she herself is only just coming to understand.

"Now Booth, if you want to talk about the case… that I can do." She hands him a sheet of paper and he takes it from her silently. "You're looking at our first victim, Janice Brown, twenty three years old, missing approximately eight weeks."

"Eight weeks? You said that she'd been killed within the past 96 hours."

"She has been. If she was abducted, then he must be holding them before he kills them… Angela's working on the facial reconstruction of our second victim. Hodgins and Zack are preparing a list of possible murder weapons, Hodgins identified some steel deposits embedded in the bones, once they have a list Zack will compare weapons."

"Sounds like you have it all under control Bones. Guess I'll go and break the news to the Brown family."

She nods and makes no move to join him as he pushes himself to his feet, an unusual motion that doesn't go unnoticed by him. He pauses at the door for a few seconds to give her a chance to reconsider her silent rejection of joining him, she simply returns her eyes to the screen in front of him leaving him to exit shaking his head.

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**Woo boy, things are strained.**

**Now in the infamous words of the Sugababes – Push that button baby!!!!!!!!**


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